BELLFLOWER >> From under the white-clothed table, St. John Bosco head coach Jason Negro pulled out three hats for his star quarterback Josh Rosen and placed them on the table. The first? UCLA. The second? UCLA. The third? Well, you get the idea. The quarterback then produced a fourth Bruins hat from under the podium and placed it atop his head, a mile-wide smile across his face.

Rosen, the top ranked junior quarterback in the nation, ended months of speculation as he pledged a verbal commitment to the UCLA Bruins during a ceremony on the Bellflower campus Thursday afternoon, surrounded by coaches, family and classmates.

“A lot went into the decision. I just had to know I wasn’t going to somewhere to just play football, but a university where I was going to be for another four years of my life. “ said Rosen, who is ranked as the No. 2 recruit and the No. 1 overall pro-style quarterback in the nation by Rivals.com. “And ultimately I felt UCLA was the right decision for me.”

UCLA was projected as the junior’s college decision for many months. In a Sports Illustrated written by Pete Thamel, published on Feb. 17, 2014, discussing the pressure on high school kids to commit early in the process, Rosen was quoted as saying, “The stars have aligned themselves nearly perfectly. I’d be kicking myself in a few years if I didn’t pick UCLA.”

Rosen is coming off a season where he led one of the best, if not the best, offense in nation, as the Braves went 16-0, winning every title possible, including the mythical national title. Rosen threw for 3,200 yards and 39 touchdowns against just seven interceptions, while completing 68 percent of those passes. Not quite considered a dual-threat QB, Rosen also managed to run for 416 yards and eight more scores.

“I’m really excited for him. I think he’s going to be very successful. UCLA runs a very similar offense (to us),” said offensive coordinator Chad Johnson, who Rosen called his second dad. “A lot of the same concepts and schemes, and I would be surprised if he wasn’t successful right away.”

“He’s the landslide No. 1 guy I’ve seen in high school,” said Negro. “I got an opportunity to watch Carson Palmer, Mark Sanchez and Matt Leinhart to throw (in high school). All those guys I’ve seen and coached against and I think Josh right now, as a junior, is every bit as good as any of those guys (were in high school).”

Rosen said his finalists along with the Bruins were California and Michigan, with the Wolverines pushing the hardest behind UCLA. The Big Ten stalwart got Rosen to take an unofficial to Ann Arbor a week ago. While Rosen was quoted as saying he had an “awesome” time on his trip, it wasn’t enough to dethrone the Bruins.

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“That Michigan trip made it a much tougher decision. I came back to L.A. and I sort of reassured where I was,” said Rosen. “But I was pretty confident in my decision to pick UCLA.”

The junior received his first offer from Fresno State when he was just a freshman at Bosco. From there the scholarship offers kept pouring in for the 6-foor-4, 207 pounds QB’s services, including offers from schools such as Notre Dame, Florida St., Alabama, Tennessee, Texas and USC. Rosen will be joining teammates in all-world safety Jaleel Wadood and defensive end Jacob Tuioti-Mariner who signed with UCLA on this past Signing Day in February.

While there are many months ahead before Rosen can officially commit to the Bruins and anything can happen in the college recruiting world, the junior has made up his mind.

“I’m not going to be burning any bridges with other coaches,” said Rosen. “But I’m definitely going to UCLA.”